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Sunday, October 30, 2011

During WWII pilots reported to have seen a phenomenon of fast-moving, glowing lights that appeared to follow their aircraft.These objects flew in formation and behaved as if under intelligent control, however they could not be outmaneuvered or shot down.They would come to be known as Foo Fighters.

At the time, Foo Fighters were thought to be secret weapons employed by the enemy, not only was there no support for this claim, but it was later found that German and Japanese pilots had reported similar sightings (honestly, if it were a secret, would they have known about?).What is evident is that Foo Fighters were widely seen and during that time period, the term was commonly used to describe any UFO sighting, and had the term “flying saucers” had been popular in 1943-1945, these objects would have been so labeled.

So, what did they really see?Were they extraterrestrial objects, sent during the war to keep an eye on things?And if it were now, would the military just call it Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, their new answer for everything?

I just find it interesting that with our current technology, people are less receptive of the unknown, than they were when man first spread his wings and conquered the skies.Maybe as we become advanced there is a certain part of us that comes to admit that we might not be alone.

Please take the time to tell me what you think, leave a comment so I know you were here.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

It was a night no different from any other night, the mister was out of town and the house was empty.I place my head on my pillow hoping for peaceful slumber to engulf me quickly, as the monotony of the clock ticking, slowly lulled my mind to blankness.Blinking my eyes one last time, I started to drift off to sleep, when through the corner of my eye, a shadow slowly moved across the foot of the bed, startling me out of my relaxed consciousness.Heart beating wildly as my mind raced to make logical, what my eyes had seen.

Soon I began to hear scratching, like nails quickly running down the wall and ending in a sudden thud.After hearing this noise a couple of times in a row, the light turned on in the hallway leading to the bathroom.Frightened, I jumped out of bed and looked around the corner to find nothing, so I continued to walk slowly down the hallway into the dark bathroom, where the mirrors played tricks on my already edgy mind.Taking a deep cleansing breath and letting it out, I closed my eyes for a second and reached over to turn on the lights.

Now that my mind was more settled I opened my eyes and looked around.After several minutes of finding nothing, I turned off the lights and returned to bed.Before I could even lie my head back down, the bathroom toilet flushed and once again fear took over, as I bolted to turn on the lights and look down the hall into the bathroom.I let out a chuckle as I watched the source of my nervousness take her little paw and push down the handle of the toilet once more.

Relieved to find the reason for the toilet randomly flushing, I picked up the cat and put her down on the bed before turning the lights back off.Sitting on the edge of the bed, I could hear the cat jump off the bed onto the floor, seconds later the sound of scratching returned and the hallway light popped back on...this time kitty was busted, as I watched her continue to jump at the light switch on the wall with a quick scratch and thud, her nails raking the wall before landing on the floor.

By this time I was tired of her shenanigans, so I put her outside the bedroom and closed the door, wondering what had gotten into her and finally I was able to sleep.

The next morning I walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth.As I ran the water in the sink I could feel a cat rubbing up against my legs, after this happened a couple of time I looked down, ready to pet my little trouble maker, only to find that there was nothing there....

Soka, may you rest in peace, your people and your sister (trouble maker) miss you.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Henry VII was the first Tutor on the throne and although legitimacy was considered a rule for the time period, apparently this rule does not apply to men with a substantial army.Case and point...William the Conqueror aka...William the Bastard, made claim to the throne in 1066 in spite of being born to a mistress of Robert Duke of Normandy.Yep...as long as you are dude with an army, legitimacy is not required.Not only was Henry VII the descendant of John Beaufort, illegitimate son of John of Gaunt (third surviving son of Edward III) and his mistress Katherine Swynford, but his claim was through his mother, Margret Beaufort.

Henry VII

Now England must have been in total disarray to have allowed a king with such an unconventional linage to rule.It’s not that they were kingless at the time and had to search for an heir to the throne.King Richard III (The Child Killer) was on the throne, having smothered his dead brother, Edward IV’s young sons (apparently now labeled illegitimate by the church) and claiming the throne for himself.The problem was that Richard, in the process of usurping the throne, had sufficiently pissed off enough of the wrong people to get himself killed and replaced with Henry VII, despite Henry’s somewhat tenuous claim.

Ironically, Henry VIII would use legitimacy as a tool to undo the claim of his female heirs.Had Henry’s eldest daughter, Mary been born a son, he himself would have been just another obscure king of England and not the self-centered womanizer he is known and loved as today.

Is Legitimacy a rule or just another tool used to rule?Would anyone have had any interest at all in Henry VIII if he and Catherine of Aragon had male heirs, and had remain married?Are we over demonizing Richard III?

Friday, October 21, 2011

As I was working on the cover for the book I am writing for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month: a challenge to write a 50K novel in one month) I began to have flashbacks of the realm of Stargate Atlantis.What if a civilization, such as the one in the TV, had visited during Earth’s early human time period?Would they have reviled their selves to man, or would they have hidden, just outside man’s reach yet sill close enough to observe?

Would early man have called them gods, since man tends to raise to godlike status those things they do not understand?Maybe they would have influenced man from far, putting ideas in their heads to move forward, think, and create.Or better yet could they have assimilated themselves with secretly with man itself?

Please leave a comment.Religion aside, what roll do you think ET’s could have played if they were to have encountered early man? And if you would rather not go there...What do you think of the cover I am working on?I would love to hear from you.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Everyone is familiar with the pyramids of the Giza, The Great Pyramid of Khufu has been ingrained into our imaginations from the time we are children and continue to captivate us well into our adulthood.Their behemoth size a testament to the imagination of a people, who had yet to invent the wheel when they first began to build them.Oddly enough those are not the pyramids I want to talk about, as interesting as they are.I want to bring attention to the 17 new pyramids that have been found using satellite technology.

New Satellite photos of Egypt

Thanks to the ingenuity of US Egyptologist Dr. Sarah Parcak and her research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.A new ancient Egypt is being brought to life as documented by the Discovery Chanel program Curiosity: Eygpt: What lies beneath? But for me, the true fascination is the technology used to find the 17 new pyramids, 1000 tombs and 3000 ancient settlements.

Infrared Satellite

For years infrared satellite technology has been used to track weather patterns, locate wildfires, look for new planets, and find the bad guys, just to name a few. As technology continues to advance, our knowledge of the world around us, past, and present, will expound exponentially.And maybe one day we might finally find out who really helped the wheelless Egyptians build their wonders over 5000 years ago with nothing but sticks, copper, stone and a piece of string.

Who else is looking forward to what new things they might find under the sands of Egypt? I would love to hear from you.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Am I the only one who seems to be confused by Norse Mythology?After reading hour after hour of it, I have come to the conclusion that the people of the Northern Germanic countries, during the Early Middle Ages, must have been tripping on some pretty good stuff to come up with such a bizarre history for their gods, such as Rainbow bridges and interplanetary squirrels. Although I do have to give them credit for thinking outside the box, during this time not many ancient peoples would have come up with the concept of nine entirely different worlds and a frozen hell inside a frozen hell.

Ásgarðr, world of the Æsir. This is the home of the gods such as Odin and Thor, it seems they didn’t get along well with others, even the other gods that lived on Vanaheimr had it in for them. Valhalla is Odin’s hall and the home of the souls of the greatest warriors, which reminds me of the movie Erik the Viking, because of its comical take on Valhalla.

Vanaheimr, world of the Vanir. This is the home of Freyr and Freyja, it is also speculated thatHeimdallr was also a member of the Vanir, which kind of throws a wrench in the cogs of the movie Thor and makes me wonder if he wasn’t a mole of some sort.

Álfheimr, world of the Álfar (Elves). And who dosen’t like magical elves...although the Norse divided this race into two, Light elves and Dark elves, most of us like to think of them in terms of Tolkien’s elves and Santa’s elves.

I couldn’t help but think of this elf in particular.

Miðgarðr, world of humans. This is where we humans live, it is also known as Earth. So, one day the gods, Odin, Vili, and Ve were skipping through the forest and found a couple of tree trunks, as a joke Odin gives them life, Vili gives them a tool to make bad decisions (a mind), and Ve gives them the ability to fully enjoy a rock concert and tell all their friends the next day (hear, see and speak).That is how humans were made.

Jötunheimr, world of the Jötnar (Giants).The Frost giants are a product of Ymir and the icy cow Audhumla.Yep, that’s right I said cow....it kind of makes me wonder the true story behind this tale.Whatever it might be, I’m sure it involved lots of alcohol and a drunken bet.

Niðavellir, world of the Dvergar (Dwarfs). There seems to be some differing opinions about the creation of the Dvergar, some say they are god eating maggots that were gifted with reason and others say they are products of humans.Either way you can’t help but love these short little mountain dwellers, if not for them who would have taken care of Snow White in her time of need or entertained us with comical retorts in LOTR.

Múspell, world of fire and the Fire Jötnar it is also known as Múspellsheimr .The sons of Muspell are prophesized to be the breakers of Bifrost bridge.There is not a lot of information on this place, most likely because it would have been a true stretch of the imagination for the people of Northern Europe, to envision such a warm place.

Niflhel, world of ice and mist, into which the wicked dead are cast also known as Niflheimr.It is not surprising that in the world of the Norse, their Hell is a frozen one.

Hel, world of the inglorious dead, located within Niflhel/Niflheimr and ruled over by the giantess Hel. Ironically, Hel the being is also the daughter of Loki the trickster and to “go to Hel” is to die.This is a frozen underworld where Hel receives a portion of dead.Because one frozen hell is not enough, so the Norse created a second, colder one inside of it.

Okay this is where it all gets wonky.These worlds are all joined together by Yggdrasil “Worlds Tree” which is inhabited by the squirrel Ratatoskr and makes me wonder why Asgard bothered building Bifrost the rainbow bridge, when they could have just scampered down to Miogaror with the squirrel?

So what is your take on Norse Mythology? I like to look at the comical side of it, like my short story "Loki's Wife". I would love to hear from you so please leave a comment.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Off the coast of Ireland is a mysterious island that has appeared and disappeared at will.Legend has it that the island, cloaked in mist, was once home to Celtic priest and the High King of the World. But for fictions sake I like to think of it as the home of an alien race capable of manipulating energy.They were also the keepers of knowledge, and the ones who taught pyramid building across the world. Although it is thought that the island sank, there is always the possibility that they just packed up and left, that the island was not an island at all, but a very large spaceship, as depicted on the TV show Stargate Atlantis.

Some of the facts that lend credence to Hy-Brasil being the missing city of Atlantis is its location beyond the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar), as mentioned by Plato.But if you think about it, there is an entire world of sunken islands outside of the Mediterranean.One of the most distinctive geographical features of Hy-Brasil is appearing on maps as a perfect circle, with concentric rings made of canals surrounding it.The circular perimeter of the island was confirmed by both Saints Barrind and Brendan, who separately walked the shore to determine where the island ended, but never found it. Most likely, they were walking in circles.

In 2010 Hy-Brasil was once again brought into light by the TV show on the History Channel program ‘Ancient Aliens’. In 1980 Sgt Jim Penniston was stationed at Brentwaters military base. During the UFO incident in Rendlesham Forest, he claims that he touched a UFO and telepathically received a message in the form of binary code, which he wrote down in a small note book shortly after the incident, telling no one about it for three decades. This binary was said to have been decoded by Internet programmer Nick Ciske.

Below the decoded message followed the navigational co-ordinates of an area off the west of Ireland which correlates to the site of Hy-Brasil.

The decoded message read:

Exploration of Humanity Continuous For Planetary Advance

52° 09′ 42.532″ N

13° 13′ 12.69″ W

So, did / does Hy-Brasil actually exist?Honestly I am excited to write fiction about this subject “The Words of an Immortal” is the third short story on the short story page of this blog.It can be taken in so many different directions, and who doesn’t love a good mysterious mist shrouded island.The only thing missing is strange lights and a four hour time lapse.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Bonnybridge, Scotland, part of the Falkirk Triangle, is considered the UFO capital of world, averaging about 300 sightings a year.With a track record like that, it kind of takes the wind out of Roswell’s sail.I found the activity in Bonnybridge a very interesting prospect as a likely location for an alien search party.The fact that Bonnybridge is in the path of two major airports is a great cover for the Aliens, as most people tend to dismiss all sightings as no more than aircraft lights.

When I was researching a place in Europe with lots of activity this place was immediately on my radar.Mostly because the activity is all recent, up until 1992 there was no UFO activity to be heard of, it wasn’t until a newspaper article publicizing the sighting of unexplained lights, that the phenomenon took root.Some say it’s just the beginning to something big, but most just think the whole ordeal is ludicrous and the product of an over active imaginations.

I personally am on the fence with this place concerning its authenticity, but it fits into my next story nicely, as the main search area here on earth. What is your take on the sightings at Bonnybridge?Should we hold our breath for something big to come or is fiction way more interesting than fact?

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

I have been doing a lot of research for my next book.I found it interesting how most historical accounts of the Trojan War, omit what happened to Helen in the end, also her birth is a bit murky.There seems to be much controversy not only about who was her father, Zeus king of the gods or Tyndareus her mortal father.But, her mother is also in question.Is she the daughter of Zeus and Leda – wife of Tyndareus or is she sired by Tyndareus?It is also believed that she is daughter of Nemesis- Goddess of Retribution and Zeus. Either way, one thing is known for sure, she was the most beautiful woman on earth and kings and gods alike desired her.

One of the things I found disappointing was that most depictions of Helen show her as a blond, unlike the populous of the area, which is depicted in pottery and wall murals of the time, as being dark haired.

For the purposes of my book Helen is a raven headed beauty and the mortal daughter of Leda and Tyndareus, with Zeus being more of a godfather type.She is sadly the pawn of the gods and finds true love in the form of a half god named Paris.The two are lovers for the next 3500 years due to the trickery of Aphrodite.

I love this depiction of Helen and Paris for its historical accuracy and simplicity.

About Me

As a teen C.G. Powell was selected as a member of her school's newspaper staff. After her first article the editor decided the darkroom was a more suitable place for her skills…or lack of. Since then, she has traveled everywhere—thanks to her innate curiosity about the world and the Navy. In her life time, she has learned: aviation electronics, CCNA networking, Gemology and how to get bloodstains out of the carpet (you never know when you might need that). But her latest, all-consuming, endeavor is storytelling. When asked why, her response was "I live to challenge myself; I like to be pushed outside of my comfort zone and writing is one of those things that pushes my boundaries. Besides it was the only way to share all of the crap bouncing around in my head!"
C.G. Powell lives in Virginia with her husband and children. When she is not writing, you might find her watching hot guys jog past her front window, ordering the cabana boy to fix her another drink or abusing the local authorities…but that’s just hearsay.